Centralized radio access networks (CRAN) provide a communication infrastructure capable of supporting legacy and future wireless communication standards. While previous network architectures, such as that used for a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, in accordance with standards set out by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), each access point, such as an eNodeB, has both RF Antennas as well as a base band processing unit. Signals received by the RF antennas are processed by the base band processing unit to obtain a baseband signal. Although this provides a functioning network, it can result in an expensive build out cost. In a CRAN architecture, a network has a plurality of remote radio heads (RRH), some of the RRHs having a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) antennas, distributed throughout a coverage area. A wireless device connects to the network by communicating with one or more RRHs. Each RRH receiving the signal then transmits the received data to a central baseband unit (BBU) which processes the RF signals. The central baseband unit typically serves a number of different RRHs. On an uplink transmission, for example, an RRH receives an RF signal from the wireless device, converts it to a baseband signal and forwards the baseband to the BBU. On a downlink transmission, the RRH receives a baseband signal from the BBU and converts it to an RF signal for transmission to the wireless device. The use of CRAN may reduce the number of BBUs needed for signal processing, in comparison to architectures where each radiohead is served by its own base band processing unit. The CRAN architecture can achieve this reduction in BBUs by pooling them between a number of RRHs. The pooling of BBU functionality across a number a RRHs can also facilitate multi-point transmission and reception processing schemes, such as CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Point), which can significantly increase spectral efficiency and reduce the effects of co-channel interference from wireless devices. However, while CRAN facilitates multi-point joint processing mechanisms by centrally processing signals thus alleviating processing resources otherwise performed proximate to the RRH, it requires the network interconnecting the BBU and RRHs maintain a very high bandwidth and low latency.
Therefore there is a need for a method and system for providing signal processing in a communication network, that is not subject to one or more limitations of the prior art.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.